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Doctor Who: The Green Death- Special Edition DVD Review

Without giving away the entire story, allow me to describe the plot in 14 words: Killer maggots! Activism! Global Chemicals! BOSS! The green death infection! Jo Grant’s swan song! How do all these ideas connect together? You’ll just have to see for yourself.

On screen, those 14 words may make “The Green Death” sound like an intense story, but in reality, it’s actually quite a bore. While the relevant “message” inclusions about technology and the environment are provoking, the execution of the story leaves a lot to be desired. There are simply too many ideas being tossed around here and writer Robert Sloman takes far too long setting everything up.

As sloppy as ‘Green’ is, Sloman does write some of THE best character moments in the Third Doctor era here. As mentioned above, this is Jo Grant’s last episode. Unlike many classic Who episodes where a companion abruptly leaves at the end of the episode, “The Green Death” hints at Jo’s departure from the start. Throughout the course of the 6 parter, we see that Jo is starting to go her own way as she develops a relationship with Professor Cliff. Without giving away too much, let’s just say it’s rather emotional to see the melancholy Doctor and Jo Grant having to go their own way at the end.

Speaking of the Doctor, Jon Pertwee gives arguably his best performance as the Doctor here. From his amusing undercover disguises as a milkman and a cleaning lady to his tearful end scene, Pertwee once again displays his impressive acting range.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 4:3. How does it look? Having seen some truly mediocre prints of Third Doctor era episodes, I have to say this is one of the best remastered episodes I have seen.

Audio Track: Dolby Digital Mono. How does it sound? It sounds as good as a Mono track possibly can.

Extras:
* “Doctor Who” Series 7, Part 2 and “The Ice Warriors” trailers, Radio Times Listings, info text, photo gallery,
* A solid commentary by Katy Manning, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks. The three chat about the messages in the script, cast members, set stories, the usual.
* A bonus commentary on episodes 3, 4, and 5 by Richard Franklin, Toby Hadoke, Mitzi McKenzie, and Colin Mapson. Discussions include visual effects (such as the giant maggots), the adult aspects of the episode, cast chemistry, cliffhangers, and Captain Yates. Franklin is particularly entertaining here as he cracks lots of amusing jokes. Last, but not least is a thoroughly enjoyable episode 6 commentary by Russell T. Davies and Katy Manning.
* “What Katy Did Next”- A segment of the “Serendipity” show with Katy Manning.
* “The Sarah Jane Adventures: Death of the Doctor”- If you’ve never seen the SJA spin-off before, you’re in for a real treat with this wonderful 2 parter that features Sarah Jane Smith, Jo Grant AND the Eleventh Doctor. A must see for Whovians.
* Separate interviews with actor Stewart Bevan (Professor Jones), writer Robert Sloman, and visual effects maestro Colin Mapson.
* “Wales Today”- A newscast report featuring set footage from “The Green Death.”
* “Doctor Forever- The Unquiet Dead”- The fantastic series of extras returns with a surprisingly in-depth story about the show’s resurrection in 2005.
* “Global Conspiracy?”- A mock investigative report about the town of Llanfairfach starring Mark Gatiss.
* “The One With The Maggots” is the standard making of containing cast and crew interviews, visual effects discussions, story discussions, etc.

Overall Thoughts: “The Green Death” is worth seeing just for the character moments between Jo Grant and the Doctor.

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